Chapter 13
Their one wedding on Saturday night didn’t get Rebecca out of the family dinner on Sunday. She smoothed out her dress before entering Grandma’s house, steeling herself for plenty of wedding talk. Grandma and Winnie were trying to get as much planned as possible before Christmas and New Year’s, and although she couldn’t blame them, she hated that they were rushing this.
Ian had flat out made her promise not to question his choices anymore, though he did buy her groceries. She’d made sure to add lots of girly toiletries to the shopping list, just to make it extra fun for him.
“Rebecca’s here!” Mom gave her a big hug and gushed about the cute scarf Rebecca was wearing. It felt nice to be appreciated, even if they rarely talked about anything deeper than their fashion choices.
“Hi, Dad.” She moved to hug him as he came into the entryway, and together the three of them entered Grandma’s ornate dining room. Her long table rivaled something out ofDownton Abbey.
Aunt Dora shut the paperback romance novel she’d been reading and hid it in her purse. “My Becca girl.”
Rebecca reached down to kiss Aunt Dora on the cheek. “Where are Ian and Winnie?”
“Coming shortly. Sit down and tell me about your job. Glenda tells me you have quite the handsome boss.”
Rebecca glanced behind her, but her parents had already retreated to the kitchen. She could hear Grandma calling out orders as they finished last-minute preparations for dinner.
Aunt Dora was like a vault. Whatever you told her stayed safely stored away, but her hearing aids didn’t work well over the phone so Rebecca hadn’t confided in her in a while.
She sat down in the mahogany dining chair next to Aunt Dora and leaned in. “Yes, well, Grandma doesn’t know he’s the same guy she snubbed while we were in college. She told me he was useless and I should stop hanging around him if I wanted to snag ‘someone of quality.’”
“Her idea of quality and yours are completely different things. I hope you ignored that advice.”
Rebecca looked down at the table. “I wish I had.”
Dora covered Rebecca’s hand with her warm, soft one. “If he’s back in your life now, there’s a reason for it. Do you work well together?”
“We do.”
“Then don’t worry about the past. Worry about the present. I wanted to hear how you felt about him before I told you this part. Glenda said she invited him to dinner tonight.”
“She what?”
“I’m sorry, my darling. I only found out a few minutes ago. She said he told her he’s stuck in traffic, and not to wait dinner on him.”
“When did she invite him? I saw him last night and he didn’t say a word.”
Aunt Dora shrugged, and Rebecca pulled out her phone, getting up to find a private place to chew Jay out for keeping this from her. She headed to the front porch while she waited for Jay to pick up.
“Hi, Rebecca.” He sounded resigned.
“Why would you not tell me Grandma invited you?”
“Because you would have uninvited me, and that would’ve put me in a tough spot with my client. I actually get dinner invitations a lot. It makes planning a little less stressful, and I’d also like to get a chance to talk to Ian.”
Rebecca took a deep breath. It was hard to be mad at someone when they were being more logical than you. “I wouldn’t have uninvited you.”
“You sure about that?”
She smiled at the humor in his voice. “I might have found some wedding-related excuse for both of us.”
“Exactly.”
“So, you’re stuck in traffic?”
“Yeah, there’s an accident up ahead. If I can just get through this next red light I’ll be fine.”
“Be careful.”
